Preface and Reader's Guide

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) supports healthy women building healthy communities. HRSA is charged with ensuring access to quality health care through a network of community-based health centers, maternal and child health programs, and community HIV/AIDS programs throughout the States and U.S. jurisdictions. In addition, HRSA’s mission includes supporting individuals pursuing careers in medicine, nursing, and many other health disciplines. HRSA fulfills these responsibilities, in part, by collecting and analyzing timely, topical information that identifies health priorities and trends that can be addressed through program interventions and capacity building.

HRSA is pleased to present Women’s Health USA 2013, the 12th edition of the Women’s Health USA data book. The data book serves as a concise, easy-to-use reference for policymakers and program managers at the Federal, State, and local levels to identify and better address critical health challenges facing women, their families, and their communities. Data are included on a variety of population health determinants, health behaviors, health status, and health care utilization practices of women throughout the United States, bringing together the latest available information from various agencies within the Federal government, including the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, and Veterans Affairs. To reflect the ever-changing, increasingly diverse population and its characteristics, Women’s Health USA selectively highlights emerging issues and trends in women’s health. Data and information on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fast food and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, patient-centered care, and prediabetes are among the new indicators included in this edition. New special population pages also feature data on the characteristics and health of women served by community health centers, immigrant women, and lesbian and bisexual women.

Women’s Health USA 2013 is a valuable tool for emphasizing the importance of preventive care, counseling, and education, and for illustrating disparities in the health status of women from all age groups and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Health problems can only be remedied if they are recognized. Disparities by sex, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors, including education and income, are highlighted throughout the databook. Where race and ethnicity data are reported, groups are mutually exclusive (i.e., non-Hispanic race groups and the Hispanic ethnic group) except in a few cases where the original data do not present the groups separately. Throughout the data book, those categorized as being of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race or combination of races. In some instances, it was not possible to provide data for all races due to the design of the original data source or the size of the sample population; therefore, estimates with a numerator of less than 20 or a relative standard error of 30 percent or greater were considered unreliable and were not reported. Where possible, comparisons across groups are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard of the United States, which helps to see differences between groups in the prevalence or incidence of a condition that are not simply a function of differences in the groups’ age distributions. In general, only statistically significant differences are commented on; however, not all significant differences are necessarily discussed.

Women’s Health USA 2013 and previous editions are available online. In each new edition, some indicators are replaced by new health topics or population features. For information on topics or populations covered in previous editions, please refer to the Women’s Health USA website.
In 2013, many maternal health indicators are included in a special perinatal edition of Child Health USA 2013, also available online. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health offers detailed State and county level health data by sex, race and ethnicity, and age available through Quick Health Data Online .

The text and graphs in Women’s Health USA
2013 are not copyrighted; the photographs are
the property of ThinkStock or iStockPhoto and may not
be duplicated. With that exception, readers are
free to duplicate and use any of the information
contained in this publication with proper attribution. This online version contains downloadable figures, tables, and text for easy insertion into presentations and documents. Please provide
any feedback on this publication to the HRSA
Information Center which offers single copies
of the data book at no charge:

Information on this page can be found in the print version of Women's Health USA 2013. Suggested Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Women's Health USA 2013. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013.